 Hi everyone, it's Jessica here from Cointelegraph and today we're joined by Jan Emil Christensen, head of Undead Metaverse Community. Jan is a pioneer in the world of NFT and crypto with over six years of experience as a community manager. He's been at the forefront of this industry since the early days. He is a true gaming aficionado with a vision for the fantastical and spooky, with a particular love of all things spine chilling, whether he's fully immersed in the universe of Dungeons and Dragons or glued to the latest zombie flick. Jan's passion is truly contagious. It's because of this that we're excited to explore the world of the undead metaverse with him today. Hey Jan, how are you today? Welcome to Cointelegraph Live. Thank you very much and thank you for having us. Absolutely, we're happy to have you here today. Today we'll discuss the challenges and opportunities for games, community building and web three. And we'll discuss the undeads, a newly massively multiplayer online role playing game with several unique features. If that sounds like a mouthful, don't worry. We have a quick video to introduce the undeads metaverse. Before we get started, I just want to remind our audience to please send us your questions in the chat and make sure to like the video and subscribe to the channel. Today's AMA will be formatted a little different as you can see on the screen. As you can see on the screen today, we have a Wheel of Fortune with several themes to help steer the conversation for today's AMA. I think that each title speaks for itself, maybe aside from the apocalypse test, which will be interesting. For each new question, Aaron will spin the wheel and we'll ask a question from that category. Jan, is there a section in the wheel that you're hoping to avoid? Now they look interesting, all of them, as I see it, but we'll see what is behind the wheel. Absolutely. Okay. Well, by the way, you can skip one question if you like. This is also an interactive AMA, so again, reminder to our audience to please send us your questions in the chat. And once the wheel lands on question from the audience, we'll ask the question from the chat. So let's begin. Let's go ahead and spin the wheel. So the wheel has landed on Undead's Metaverse. Jan, what is the Undead's Metaverse? What we have seen before in NFT space is small games where you had a few developers making a game. With Undead's Metaverse, we tried to make a huge game, an AA game, like you would play if it was not about the crypto or NFTs or anything. It should be a real game, a playable game. That's why we have partnered with some of the best studios in gaming space. And we combined what we have learned the last few years with NFTs and combined that with a real game for gamers. And it will be about the zombies and humans. And we try to find out who will win in the end. Sounds amazing. Sounds like a lot of fun. Talking about fun, let's go back to our wheel and see what we get next. All right, let's spin the wheel. And we've landed on Web3 Games. What are the main challenges in building Web3 gaming communities? Speaking from your experiences, how do you overcome those challenges? The biggest challenge in the games I have bought myself and been involved in myself is it's a very big task to make a game that are fun to play and look good and something you want to invest your time in. It's not done by five developers doing it in their free time. So the next games we will see that survive in the space will be by big studios with a lot of developers with a lot of funds behind. That's probably the only way that we will see a sustainable game is we get something made by a big player like we want to be. Because games are not made in a few weeks. It takes years to make a game like ours. Wonderful. Okay, let's go back to our wheel and see our following question. I've heard that you're currently running Potion Box Mint. Can you explain what that is and what users can now do on your platform? If you know NFTs where you buy it, it looks like an image, but it has some properties attached to it. You can now mint our NFTs tomorrow and in a few hours, three hours, I think it is. We have the ByteList Mint and you buy an NFT and inside that mystery box, you get the option to mint a zombie and you get that character. You can play with it in the game and you can resell it on market places and look at it and use it as avatar on your Twitter, your Facebook and where you have it. That NFTs also grant you an airdrop later where you can mint a human. That's what you are buying currently. We are also trying to build the community. All about gaming is community and people having fun. We try to add value to that community part and maybe ask later, I don't know, but we also have the virtual reality part where you get access to some small games but community driven games where you can hang out with your NFTs and that's it. Got it, absolutely. Can we elaborate more about hanging out with your NFTs and your lounge spaces? What is that like and why do you think it was important for the creators and developers to build a space within the game that included something like that? We have seen in the NFTs space that the community part is very strong and people feel for the NFTs but they did not have the game yet. But we still want to take that good part and include it in our universe. The reason we want to do that is because people like to hang out. They build up friendship inside the game and in the community and we think it will make the experience stronger to have those small games where people can hang out. When we get going we also will make that even stronger with some added value for the community to be part of that. Many teams are looking into Metaverse and probably no one has the final answer for that yet but we want to be a strong player there and see how big we can make it. Also in the virtual reality Metaverse area? Absolutely and those lounge spaces are great opportunities for you to connect to the community as well and learn how they are looking to enhance the game and maybe some of the things that they are looking to see for newer versions. So I think it is a great space to connect with the community and hang out and learn from the users as well. So I think that's great. Let's go back to our wheel and see what the next question will be. So we have Web3 question. What do you think are the next logical steps for development for blockchain games? I think we will see more games like us that try to make a very big game and they have the funds behind them before they go to public. We have already invested around I think it was five million dollars. We have on the table already to make this a success because people want the best game. They don't want to play a small game made by one-two developers. It will be fun maybe a few days and that's it. If you want to make something people come back to and something they tell around and something that can grow for many years, yeah, you need to make it like it was the biggest game in the world. Nothing less is possible to attract the community. Understood. So I see that there's a couple of questions from our audience that we may want to try and answer. Let's see if our wheel lands on question from the audience. But the following question, let's go ahead and spin the wheel. So question, undead metaverse question. How does your game differ from other play-to-earn games? And this is actually in line with the question from our audience. So how does it differ from other games and do you need to purchase anything into actually start earning as part of the game? You can join the game and play some small parts without owning an NFT, but to get fully involved in the game you need an NFT and yeah, that's how it is. But as I said some of the elements you can play without. What differ for us is probably that we try to make it a big game and we put so much funds into it and we have the best partners in the game space to lift this game to a level that will satisfy gamers and also crypto people as well. For the game economy, it has been going on for some years now where people have tried to make play-to-earn games and it's not that easy because it had to be well balanced for inflation not to happen and for people to actually gain the value you promised them and we have partnered up with some people that try different scenarios and make the perfect balance in the game economy. There will of course be some people that don't earn from it, those people probably don't expect to earn, some just want to play the game, some want to get other value than the USD value but there will be some players that are there to earn and it will be a possible to have some income playing the game but of course for it to end up matching in the end, some will use more than they earned, that's of course how it is and hopefully we give those people value in other ways. Absolutely and can you share more about the experience within the game like some of the challenges or features that users can expect to experience? Yeah there will be different styles in the game if we talk about the multiplayer part it will be something where you can grow your character like to say, where you can have buildings, you can add different weapons, you can master your skills and build alliances with other players and it will be a real multiplayer area where you have to put in a lot of time to be the top dog in the game and there will also be some areas where you play fast games with high intensity where you just have to kill the other part. So it sounds like there'll be a lot of opportunity to build a community, to kind of work together to build an infrastructure, create new things within the game so that sounds really fun and exciting but moving on let's go onto our wheel and see what the wheel of fortune has for us next, a little more personal. So post-apocalyptic scenarios have been among the most popular genres since let's say the 60s with Night of the Living Dead and we can see from the latest craze with the TV show The Last of Us that this genre isn't going anywhere it's something that truly fascinates us. In your opinion why are we so attracted to post-apocalyptic genres and scenarios? It's probably part of the horror element where you want to be a little afraid and also it's interesting to find out if you could survive if you could not depend on a current society but I think it's a bit different depending on what country you come from. When you talk to people from USA they have more access to weapons and that side of the survival where they have those called preps that kind of live their life to prepare for the zombies coming. I'm from Europe we don't have that because it's so restricted for us to have weapons and things like that. When we talk about survival here it's probably more to be able to grow our own food and maybe have a knife and fishing and all that. I have been if you know the word urban explorer for close to 20 years I think and I like that feeling where you can explore things without other people being around. I have been to Chernobyl many times and other abandoned areas and there's just something fascinating to walk around and explore things and I think also that element is something people can see in the zombie movies at least they're walking dead and things like that. Yes you know I think I agree with you completely. I think we're fascinated by this genre and the scenarios of the what ifs because it gets us to think about what we would do in those scenarios how would we react and I agree being able to you know contemplate those without having to really live through it is something that's fascinating to all of us. So I also wanted to go on I've read a comment about the undeads there's a comment that we found under YouTube video of the game I wanted to share the comment and see if how you would respond what your thoughts are so the comment for this that we found was as far as I know such games are designed for scams usually they don't last long or one can earn just very little money such games make people invest crypto and then burn them I've stopped believing in this kind of thing since 2000s they just changed the rapping but the meaning stays the same what do you think about this comment and what would you say in response I have bought a lot of game NFTs and tokens and so on myself during the last five six years I would not say I have become rich playing those games but at least I have had a lot of fun and learned a lot we we try to take it to to the next level with with the game and with the community but of course everyone can figure out that you don't become a millionaire playing a game but there will be some rewards and for some people that will be a reward that means something and for other people if they already are financial stable it will probably not mean that much to them but as I said it it should not be the reward that's getting you to play it will hopefully be the be the game and the reason why we have the rewards is because there's also a competition element in it it's like old games where you had to take the high score at least above your friend and people should maybe see the rewards a bit like a high score where where you have to maximize your profit also because you get the bragging rights and you are the best player in the in the game and then you could maybe even a little but don't don't make it your main focus of course and and I think one of the major rewards in games like this especially being part of the web3 space is that there will be continuous opportunities for growth so advancements the game will I I assume will change and and the developers will add new features as the game progresses so that that truly within itself is a reward yeah that's right that there will be some for the big investors that can earn a bit more some buildings and and so on but for the average gamer it will be fine rewards but not something that could change your life in regards of financial income of course absolutely well let's go back to our wheel and see what we have next the apocalypse test here we go so Jan you're at home you hear the emergency sirens zombie apocalypse is about to begin what three things would you grab right away I have family so I plan to take them with me as as a start and then then if it was possible to to stay at home it will probably be the the best part to to start a journey in the in the zombie world because you have all your stuff there but if you had to go you need a weapon of some kind in Denmark we have no weapons so I'll probably have to improvise take a kitchen knife and and then I would take a bag with some canned food and yeah it depends what how the world is if the phone still work I'll bring that one yes a kitchen knife your phone and some food to survive a few days yes I agree I think I think those are solid answers and probably what I would go for as well um yes again I love those scenarios it's it's just really exciting to think of like different things that we would do if something like that happens um so let's go to our fortune wheel and see what question we have next player experience you've we've heard that you've recently partnered with Warner Brothers and Wabi Savi sounds known for its blockbuster games such as BioShock left for dead two dead space to how do these partnerships enhance the game quality and gamer experience I have been following some games where they kind of made all themselves and because you when you make a game you have to remake so many things that it just take a lot of time and when you partner with the with people that have experience they have the made games already they had a library of things they can use already you skip some of the the parts where you have to refactory everything and it will help you make the game on time I have been involved in in good games where it almost killed the game because they had to refactor some major parts and it it just takes too much time so experience and partner with people that had to set up ready just to have the the computers ready the software ready the people ready everything is ready so that's probably the biggest part of having good partners is that you you start running from day one instead of using a year to set up the the infrastructure just to make a game absolutely yes and and just from the trailers that I've seen I think it's going to be an amazing game I know the sound quality is phenomenal the visual the artistry it looks like you've put a lot of work into this game how long have you been working on on producing the game and I know you are about to start your minting process but I know the community is really excited to see the the game unfold do you have like a roadmap or timeline on as to when that may be happening we have a updated roadmap on our homepage but we plan to show the in-game clips in in around one month they should be ready for for public there and when we build our community some will be more connected to us and and people we can interact with and they are very interested in the game they will get some some beta testing options if if if they want to to be a part and as you said before about the the trust in the game and all that it's of course people want to show proof and they want to see the working game already now and that's how it is that's a part of it and we of course as soon as possible plan to show things to people so they can be involved and they can gain trust in us and yeah great well let's go to our fortune wheel and see what other questions we have in store another task question Jan do you have any scavenging skills anything to help you survive an apocalyptic doomsday doomsday I'll not say I'm an expert but I have been as I said before into urban exploration where I go out with two or three friends and we stay there for a long weekend and we sleep on site in abandoned castles in the catacombs in Chernobyl and places like that so at least I know I can survive in three days in an in an abandoned environment yeah amazing wonderful well let's go to our fortune wheel and see what question we have next web three question what steps have you taken to ensure that you to ensure that your game continues to to grow over time and that the community remains active even as flares come and go as I said we have the roadmap on the homepage but because we invest so much in this game engine and the universe and all that we of course plan to to keep it running for for many years and also add more features more game options and in NFT space and crypto and actually also in gaming the community is is all so we will put a lot of effort into to making sure the the community are heard and they get what they request and also take their feedback to to make it even stronger at the moment we of course have a lot of work on the table so we could put more into the the community work that's why I'm hired to to help lift that part but we will add even more people and information and content as fast as possible great well we have time for one last question and I want to make sure that we ask from our audience chat there is a very interesting question here that I'm intrigued by how will the reproduction of zombies take place yeah that's a good question the technical part is that you meant a new zombie I have not seen the in-game thing I hope the developers have made something special how it actually going to happen I have not seen myself but yeah it will be interesting to to find out the technical part is boring but the in-game could could be a bit more fun I agree wonderful well Jan I just want to thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your passions and insights into the world of the undead metaverse I understand tomorrow is undead's public mint can you share with the community how they can participate in the nft drop because we have seen there is quite a bit of an interest for our game we have decided that one wallet only can make can buy one nft so there should be some for everyone the way you do is the easiest way is to have metamask installed and we can help with that in our community on discord if if needed and you need to add around 0.1 Ethereum and then you can buy one nft and then you are kind of ready for the game you get a mystery box and that box you can you can on wheel for for the zombie and I think it's after one month we also drop an option for you to get a free human so you get two nfts buying one absolutely and one thing that we discussed before the show that I thought was really interesting is this concept of the mystery box and and the collector's opportunity to keep the mystery box a mystery yeah that's right you you you could decide not to open the the mystery box then you don't know the reality of the of the zombie the reason why you some would do that is because some buy to to resell and the resale value would probably be higher if you you don't open the box let's say you open the box and you get the the lowest rarity you of course can't get that much payment for it but if someone think that the box could hold a legendary zombie then they are kind of more willing to pay a little more if if the mint have sold out and you hold the only box not opened absolutely and it's also an experience which is great well Jan I just want to say thank you again for joining us today for this AMA and thank you to our audience for being interactive and sending along your questions I also want to remind everyone to please subscribe to the Cointelegraph's YouTube channel we do AMAs like this quite frequently thank you Jan and thanks again to our audience we'll see you next time thank you